7 Search Results for "Gheerbrant, Amélie"

Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICDT.2026.13
Complexity of Evaluating GQL Queries

Authors: Diego Figueira, Anthony W. Lin, and Liat Peterfreund

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 365, 29th International Conference on Database Theory (ICDT 2026)

Abstract
GQL has recently emerged as the standard query language over graph databases, particularly, property graphs. Indeed, this is analogous to the role of SQL for relational databases. Unlike SQL, however, fundamental problems regarding GQL are still unsolved, most notably the complexity of query evaluation. In this paper we provide a complete solution to this problem for the core fragment of GQL and for its extension with path restrictors. In particular, we show that the data complexity of these fragments is P^NP[log]-complete in general, and drops to NL-complete when restrictors are disallowed. Using techniques from embedded finite model theory, we show that this is true, even when the queries use data from infinite concrete domains such as real numbers with arithmetic. In proving these results, we establish and exploit tight connections between GQL and query languages over relational databases, especially extensions of relational calculus with transitive closure operators and fragments of second-order logic.
Cite as

Diego Figueira, Anthony W. Lin, and Liat Peterfreund. Complexity of Evaluating GQL Queries. In 29th International Conference on Database Theory (ICDT 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 365, pp. 13:1-13:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{figueira_et_al:LIPIcs.ICDT.2026.13,
  author =	{Figueira, Diego and Lin, Anthony W. and Peterfreund, Liat},
  title =	{{Complexity of Evaluating GQL Queries}},
  booktitle =	{29th International Conference on Database Theory (ICDT 2026)},
  pages =	{13:1--13:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-413-0},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{365},
  editor =	{ten Cate, Balder and Funk, Maurice},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICDT.2026.13},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-256278},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICDT.2026.13},
  annote =	{Keywords: Graph query languages, GQL, complexity, database theory}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICDT.2026.18
Output-Sensitive Evaluation of Acyclic Conjunctive Regular Path Queries

Authors: Mahmoud Abo Khamis, Alexandru-Mihai Hurjui, Ahmet Kara, Dan Olteanu, Dan Suciu, and Zilu Tian

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 365, 29th International Conference on Database Theory (ICDT 2026)

Abstract
Conjunctive Regular Path Queries, or CRPQs for short, are an essential construct in graph query languages. In this paper, we propose the first output-sensitive algorithm for evaluating acyclic CRPQs. It is output-sensitive in the sense that its complexity is a function of the sizes of the input graph and of the query output and not of the output sizes of the regular expressions that appear in the query, as these latter sizes can be larger than the query output size. Our algorithm proceeds in two stages. In the first stage, it contracts the given query into a free-connex acyclic one such that the output of the original query can be obtained from the output of the contracted one. This contraction removes bound variables by composing regular expressions or by promoting bound variables to free ones. The minimum necessary number of promoted bound variables gives the contraction width, which is a novel parameter specific to CRPQs. In the second stage, our algorithm evaluates the free-connex acyclic CRPQ and projects away the columns of the promoted bound variables. It ensures output-sensitivity by computing the calibrated outputs of the regular expressions appearing in the free-connex acyclic CRPQ in time proportional to their sizes. Our algorithm has lower complexity than the state-of-the-art approaches for problem instances where the query output is asymptotically smaller than the output sizes of the regular expressions that appear in the query.
Cite as

Mahmoud Abo Khamis, Alexandru-Mihai Hurjui, Ahmet Kara, Dan Olteanu, Dan Suciu, and Zilu Tian. Output-Sensitive Evaluation of Acyclic Conjunctive Regular Path Queries. In 29th International Conference on Database Theory (ICDT 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 365, pp. 18:1-18:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{abokhamis_et_al:LIPIcs.ICDT.2026.18,
  author =	{Abo Khamis, Mahmoud and Hurjui, Alexandru-Mihai and Kara, Ahmet and Olteanu, Dan and Suciu, Dan and Tian, Zilu},
  title =	{{Output-Sensitive Evaluation of Acyclic Conjunctive Regular Path Queries}},
  booktitle =	{29th International Conference on Database Theory (ICDT 2026)},
  pages =	{18:1--18:20},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-413-0},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{365},
  editor =	{ten Cate, Balder and Funk, Maurice},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICDT.2026.18},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-256321},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICDT.2026.18},
  annote =	{Keywords: graph databases, regular path queries, output-sensitive algorithms}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICDT.2026.22
View-Based Query Determinacy for Walk-Based Semantics

Authors: Nadime Francis

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 365, 29th International Conference on Database Theory (ICDT 2026)

Abstract
The view-based query determinacy problem asks, given a view 𝒱 and a query Q whether the information contained in 𝒱 always suffices to answer the query Q. It is a notoriously hard problem that is known to be undecidable even in very restricted settings. Here, we study it in the context of graph databases and regular path queries and views evaluated under several "walk-based semantics", that is, semantics in which queries and views return the matched walks in full as opposed to the classical "endpoint semantics". Our main finding is that view-based query determinacy is decidable for regular path queries under both trail and shortest walk semantics.
Cite as

Nadime Francis. View-Based Query Determinacy for Walk-Based Semantics. In 29th International Conference on Database Theory (ICDT 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 365, pp. 22:1-22:21, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{francis:LIPIcs.ICDT.2026.22,
  author =	{Francis, Nadime},
  title =	{{View-Based Query Determinacy for Walk-Based Semantics}},
  booktitle =	{29th International Conference on Database Theory (ICDT 2026)},
  pages =	{22:1--22:21},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-413-0},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{365},
  editor =	{ten Cate, Balder and Funk, Maurice},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICDT.2026.22},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-256362},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICDT.2026.22},
  annote =	{Keywords: graph databases, regular path queries, trail semantics, shortest walk semantics, view-based query determinacy}
}
Document
Database Theory in Action
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICDT.2026.26
Database Theory in Action: From Inexpressibility to Efficiency in GQL’s Order-Constrained Paths

Authors: Hadar Rotschield and Liat Peterfreund

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 365, 29th International Conference on Database Theory (ICDT 2026)

Abstract
Pattern matching of core GQL, the new ISO standard for querying property graphs, cannot check whether edge values are increasing along a path, as established in recent work. We present a constructive translation that overcomes this limitation by compiling the increasing-edges condition into the input graph. Remarkably, the benefit of this construction goes beyond restoring expressiveness. In our proof-of-concept implementation in Neo4j’s Cypher, where such path constraints are expressible but costly, our compiled version runs faster and avoids timeouts. This illustrates how a theoretically motivated translation can not only close an expressiveness gap but also bring practical performance gains.
Cite as

Hadar Rotschield and Liat Peterfreund. Database Theory in Action: From Inexpressibility to Efficiency in GQL’s Order-Constrained Paths. In 29th International Conference on Database Theory (ICDT 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 365, pp. 26:1-26:5, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026)

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@InProceedings{rotschield_et_al:LIPIcs.ICDT.2026.26,
  author =	{Rotschield, Hadar and Peterfreund, Liat},
  title =	{{Database Theory in Action: From Inexpressibility to Efficiency in GQL’s Order-Constrained Paths}},
  booktitle =	{29th International Conference on Database Theory (ICDT 2026)},
  pages =	{26:1--26:5},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-413-0},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{365},
  editor =	{ten Cate, Balder and Funk, Maurice},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICDT.2026.26},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-256408},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICDT.2026.26},
  annote =	{Keywords: Property graphs, ISO GQL, Graph Query Languages, Pattern Matching}
}
Document
Database Theory in Action
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICDT.2025.36
Database Theory in Action: Cypher, GQL, and Regular Path Queries

Authors: Amélie Gheerbrant, Leonid Libkin, Liat Peterfreund, and Alexandra Rogova

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 328, 28th International Conference on Database Theory (ICDT 2025)

Abstract
Cypher has so far been the most commonly used query language for property graphs, and served as the foundation of the recently standardized graph query language GQL. In designing the features of GQL, the standards committee addressed the perceived limitations of Cypher. One such limitation is the inability of Cypher, as originally designed, to express all regular path queries (RPQs). Despite this claim having been stated many times as a folklore result, we could not find any proof of it. In this note we formalize the core of Cypher’s pattern matching and formally prove that indeed it falls short of all RPQs, justifying the inclusion of new pattern matching features in GQL.
Cite as

Amélie Gheerbrant, Leonid Libkin, Liat Peterfreund, and Alexandra Rogova. Database Theory in Action: Cypher, GQL, and Regular Path Queries. In 28th International Conference on Database Theory (ICDT 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 328, pp. 36:1-36:5, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{gheerbrant_et_al:LIPIcs.ICDT.2025.36,
  author =	{Gheerbrant, Am\'{e}lie and Libkin, Leonid and Peterfreund, Liat and Rogova, Alexandra},
  title =	{{Database Theory in Action: Cypher, GQL, and Regular Path Queries}},
  booktitle =	{28th International Conference on Database Theory (ICDT 2025)},
  pages =	{36:1--36:5},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-364-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{328},
  editor =	{Roy, Sudeepa and Kara, Ahmet},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICDT.2025.36},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-229771},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICDT.2025.36},
  annote =	{Keywords: Regular path queries, Cypher, GQL, inexpressibility}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICDT.2025.20
A Formal Language Perspective on Factorized Representations

Authors: Benny Kimelfeld, Wim Martens, and Matthias Niewerth

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 328, 28th International Conference on Database Theory (ICDT 2025)

Abstract
Factorized representations (FRs) are a well-known tool to succinctly represent results of join queries and have been originally defined using the named database perspective. We define FRs in the unnamed database perspective and use them to establish several new connections. First, unnamed FRs can be exponentially more succinct than named FRs, but this difference can be alleviated by imposing a disjointness condition on columns. Conversely, named FRs can also be exponentially more succinct than unnamed FRs. Second, unnamed FRs are the same as (i.e., isomorphic to) context-free grammars for languages in which each word has the same length. This tight connection allows us to transfer a wide range of results on context-free grammars to database factorization; of which we offer a selection in the paper. Third, when we generalize unnamed FRs to arbitrary sets of tuples, they become a generalization of path multiset representations, a formalism that was recently introduced to succinctly represent sets of paths in the context of graph database query evaluation.
Cite as

Benny Kimelfeld, Wim Martens, and Matthias Niewerth. A Formal Language Perspective on Factorized Representations. In 28th International Conference on Database Theory (ICDT 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 328, pp. 20:1-20:20, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{kimelfeld_et_al:LIPIcs.ICDT.2025.20,
  author =	{Kimelfeld, Benny and Martens, Wim and Niewerth, Matthias},
  title =	{{A Formal Language Perspective on Factorized Representations}},
  booktitle =	{28th International Conference on Database Theory (ICDT 2025)},
  pages =	{20:1--20:20},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-364-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{328},
  editor =	{Roy, Sudeepa and Kara, Ahmet},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICDT.2025.20},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-229614},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICDT.2025.20},
  annote =	{Keywords: Databases, relational databases, graph databases, factorized databases, regular path queries, compact representations}
}
Document
Invited Talk
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICDT.2023.1
A Researcher’s Digest of GQL (Invited Talk)

Authors: Nadime Francis, Amélie Gheerbrant, Paolo Guagliardo, Leonid Libkin, Victor Marsault, Wim Martens, Filip Murlak, Liat Peterfreund, Alexandra Rogova, and Domagoj Vrgoč

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 255, 26th International Conference on Database Theory (ICDT 2023)

Abstract
GQL (Graph Query Language) is being developed as a new ISO standard for graph query languages to play the same role for graph databases as SQL plays for relational. In parallel, an extension of SQL for querying property graphs, SQL/PGQ, is added to the SQL standard; it shares the graph pattern matching functionality with GQL. Both standards (not yet published) are hard-to-understand specifications of hundreds of pages. The goal of this paper is to present a digest of the language that is easy for the research community to understand, and thus to initiate research on these future standards for querying graphs. The paper concentrates on pattern matching features shared by GQL and SQL/PGQ, as well as querying facilities of GQL.
Cite as

Nadime Francis, Amélie Gheerbrant, Paolo Guagliardo, Leonid Libkin, Victor Marsault, Wim Martens, Filip Murlak, Liat Peterfreund, Alexandra Rogova, and Domagoj Vrgoč. A Researcher’s Digest of GQL (Invited Talk). In 26th International Conference on Database Theory (ICDT 2023). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 255, pp. 1:1-1:22, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2023)

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@InProceedings{francis_et_al:LIPIcs.ICDT.2023.1,
  author =	{Francis, Nadime and Gheerbrant, Am\'{e}lie and Guagliardo, Paolo and Libkin, Leonid and Marsault, Victor and Martens, Wim and Murlak, Filip and Peterfreund, Liat and Rogova, Alexandra and Vrgo\v{c}, Domagoj},
  title =	{{A Researcher’s Digest of GQL}},
  booktitle =	{26th International Conference on Database Theory (ICDT 2023)},
  pages =	{1:1--1:22},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-270-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2023},
  volume =	{255},
  editor =	{Geerts, Floris and Vandevoort, Brecht},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICDT.2023.1},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-177434},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICDT.2023.1},
  annote =	{Keywords: GQL, Property Graph, Query Language, Graph Database, Pattern matching, Multi-Graph}
}
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